The union's president, Capt. Michael Melhorn, said he was on the submarine during the May 2012 fire. He said there was a delay in finding the fire, and from the outset, crews were at a disadvantage.

Melhorn said the report didn't paint a positive picture of the shipyard firefighters, saying that there were two one-hour stretches in which the fire wasn't being fought at all.

But Melhorn said there was no standing around and firefighters were always working. The fire was so intense that there were times firefighters couldn't even go in to attack it, Melhorn said.

"I use the analogy it was like going down through a chimney into a wood stove," he said. "That's the best way to put it. You go right into the fire."

The fire on the nuclear submarine was set by a civilian worker. Seven people were injured, and the vessel was destroyed.

The Navy recently released a report on the incident and singled out the shipyard firefighters, calling them complacent about fire safety and saying they relied too much on land-based firefighters.

"We were short on manpower," Melhorn said. "We definitely needed the help."

Melhorn said all mutual aid firefighters were paired up with those from the shipyard. But even before firefighters got more help, they were behind the eight ball.

"It was initially thought it was in one section of the boat, and it really wasn't," he said. "So it paints a picture that we really didn't know where we were going. We went where we were directed to go."

The report also claims that the firefighters didn't know the layout of the sub and didn't train on submarines.

"We have all the training that the Navy and Department of Defense provides us," Melhorn said. "We train daily. We do drills. We drill with the ship. We are constantly training to get familiar with the submarines on a daily basis."

Melhorn said that while submarine walk-through drills are required, the firefighters don't have specialized sub training that would include live fire simulations.

"If there is more they want us to have, we want it," he said. "Anything that will help us do better in an incident like that, we want the training."

Melhorn said that because of budget cuts, federal firefighters are left without enough resources and manpower. He said he hopes this fire will be eye-opening and allow for congressional hearings to address the shortfalls.